A Cry from the Soul:Women and Hilkhot Shofarby Alissa Thomas-Newborn

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A Cry from the Soul: Women and Hilkhot Shofar 1

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! The Mother of Sisera by Albert Moore

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It is with great humility and gratitude to Hashem that I share this article. This work is not exhaustive, but it is an 1

attempt to spark connection and discussion concerning the beautiful mitzvah of shofar. May Hashem hear our cries and redeem us as we enter into this holy holiday season. I would like to thank Rabbi Jeffrey Fox for his assistance in composing this article.

By Alissa Thomas-Newborn2

!I. The Meaning of a Woman’s Cry !The piercing cry of the shofar gives voice to our deepest longings and vulnerabilities and

calls us to return to Hashem. The rabbis compared this cry—which we traditionally sound one hundred times over the course of each day of Rosh HaShanah, as well as during the month of Elul, at the commemoration of Yovel, and at the close of Yom Kippur—to the sounds of weeping women who historically knew raw and wordless emotion. We will first explore the textual and spiritual foundations of the shofar cry and then spend the remainder of this paper delving into the halakha surrounding women’s participation in the mitzvah of shofar today.

Rabbeinu Hananel of eleventh-century Kairouan attributed the source of our counting 3

one hundred soundings on Rosh HaShanah to Sisera’s mother. He writes,

מאה פעיות פעתה אימה דסיסרא ואלין עשר (או) אינון כשגומרין כל התפלה קל תקועייא דיחידאה מתבעי למהוי עשרה תשר"ת !תש"ת תר"ת והן מאה.

Sisera's mother cried one hundred cries, and we hold over ten. When we complete all of our personal prayers and the ninety shofar blows sounded during them, we must add a final ten TaSHRaT, TaSHaT, TaRaT [the shofar blows], and this comes to a total of one hundred blows [like Sisera’s mother cried]. 4

!Sisera, a biblical enemy of the Jews, was defeated by Devorah and Barak and then killed

by Yael. During Devorah’s victory song (Shofetim 5:28), we imagine Sisera’s mother poignantly waiting at the window for her son to return home from battle. In this emotionally wrought mo-

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versity with a degree in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Classical Studies Archaeology and Ancient History. She has taught as a scholar-in-residence at synagogues and universities around New York. In addition to her studies at Yeshivat Maharat, Alissa is also a chaplain. She has received training and worked at New York-Presbyterian Co-lumbia University Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of New York and Bellevue Hospital. She specializes in Palliative Care, End of Life Care, and Psychiatric Care. Alissa is a UJA Federation fellow and is currently an intern at Metropolitan Jewish Health System in The Center for Jewish End of Life Care. Alissa is the shul intern at B'nai David-Judea in Los Angeles, California.

Rabbeinu Hananel’s (990–1053) attribution of the one hundred blasts to the cries of Sisera’s mother was included 3

both by Rabbeinu Shemaya in ספר הפרדס עמוד ריט during the Beit Midrash of Rashi (1040–1105) and by Natan ben Yechiel (1035–1106) in the ערוך. The Tosafists then continued to codify this reading, and it became a widespread practice.

4 רבינו חננאל מסכת ראש השנה דף לה עמוד א.

2 Alissa Thomas-Newborn is a student at Yeshivat Maharat. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brandeis Uni-

ment we read the following:

!ְּבַעד ַהַחּלֹון נְִׁשְקָפה ַוְּתיֵַּבב ֵאם ִסיְסָרא, ְּבַעד ָהֶאְׁשנָב: ַמּדּוַע, ּבֵֹׁשׁש ִרְכּבֹו ָלבֹוא-- ַמּדּוַע ֶאֱחרּו, ַּפֲעֵמי ַמְרְּכבֹוָתיו? Through the window Sisera’s mother peered, through the lattice she sobbed: “Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why so delayed the wheels of his chariots?” 5

!Why are our shofar blasts, those meant to arouse teshuvah and bring us back to our Cre-

ator, derived from the tears of the mother of our enemy? The Gemara even derives the exact length of the sounds of the shofar on the word “ַוְּתיֵַּבב,” the description of Sisera’s mother’s sobs. 6

In his twentieth-century biblical commentary, Meshekh Hochmah, Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk additionally links our one hundred blows to a woman in longing and even desperation. 7

This woman is a woman in labor. He cites a midrash from Vayikra Rabbah 27:7,

!ק' פעיות שהאשה פועה בשעה שיושבת על המשבר: תשעים ותשעה למיתה ואחת לחיים. A woman cries one hundred cries at the time when she gives birth: ninety-nine of death and one of life. !

Why are our shofar blasts, which are meant to inspire and ignite, tied to the image of a woman in the throes of birth pangs, grasping for life? The mother of Sisera and the woman in labor both knew vulnerability, pain, and tran-sience. They also knew hope and grasped tightly to that one cry in the midst of ninety-nine that would yield life. Our tradition recognizes the power inherent in the cries of a mother who will always devote herself to the life of her child, even at the cost of her own pain. And in blowing the shofar, we ask Hashem to respond similarly to us as His children. Traditionally, women would wail professionally at funerals as a means of honoring the deceased. For a woman’s cry, shrill, piercing, and raw, touches an uncovered place in the soul that ordinarily remains con-cealed.

Perhaps this is why our shofar blasts are connected to the cries of women. The voice of the shofar awakens a primal yearning within us to draw close to our Creator and to devote our-selves to that cry for life. We pray, “בראש השנה יכתבון וביום צום כפור יחתמון,” “On Rosh HaShanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed.” We stand before God praying that we will be written in

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5 שופטים ה:כח.

6 תלמוד בבלי מסכת ראש השנה דף לג עמוד ב.

7 משך חכמה ויקרא פרשת אמור פרק כג.

the Book of Life, and the sound of the shofar elevates and contextualizes our cries with those of Sisera’s mother and the woman in labor.

The first, Sisera’s mother, cries with frantic hope and longing, even in the midst of ulti-mate loss. Through the shofar blows we evoke this longing, as if crying, “Please Hashem, do not abandon us! We know we have transgressed, and we are worthless. It is only because of your love and kindness, your compassion as our Father, our Creator, that we may be granted the bless-ing of returning home to You. In our hearts we know we have done wrong.” The connection be-tween our shofar blasts and the mother of our enemy may also challenge us to face not only how we can be our own worst enemies, but also how crucial rahamim, compassion, and selihah, for-giveness, are in the process of teshuvah.

The second, the woman in labor, cries in agony, and yet through her pain she cries a cry of life, and her child is born. Echoing this pain, we seem to sob, “Hashem, You are our Creator. We are trying to do teshuvah, we are trying to perfect our flawed selves. It is excruciating to be distant from You, as we feel downtrodden and lacking. Let us be written in the Book of Life! Let our cries of longing and pain birth renewal and a year of life and closeness to You.”

The mitzvah of the shofar is fundamentally linked to women, for it is their wordless cries that penetrate our souls and reach Hashem. The brokenness of a woman’s cry seems obvious to the rabbis as the purest cry to Hashem. For this reason, we are not surprised that many women today make sure to hear the shofar in shul and feel it is crucial to their spiritual experience of the Yamim Noraim.

We will now explore how women, who are intrinsically connected to this mitzvah, may halakhically participate in it. Traditionally, shofar is only incumbent upon men, as it falls into the halakhic category of time-bound positive commandments, מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, a category in which only men are obligated. And yet today many women feel compelled to voluntarily take on this mitzvah so much so that hearing shofar has become ingrained in the fabric of their experience of the holiday. Therefore we will examine women’s involvement in the mitzvah of shofar in four stages: First, is a woman allowed to blow shofar for men? Second, can she blow shofar for other women? Third, is she allowed to make the ברכה, the blessing, over shofar? And fourth, do these concerns apply during the month of Elul and the rest of the year? !

II. Is a Woman Allowed to Blow Shofar for Men? !The Mishnah in Rosh HaShanah Chapter 3 Mishnah 8 teaches a general principle, “כל

A person who is not obligated to perform a religious duty“ ”,שאינו מחוייב בדבר אינו מוציא את הרבים ידי חובתןcannot perform that duty to fulfill the obligation of others.” This serves as the fundamental con-cern with regards to women’s involvement in halakhic religious practice. In Masekhet Kiddushin 29a, we learn that men are obligated in all מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, while women are פטורות, exempt. Be-

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cause of this distinction, men and women are not equally obligated in all commandments. And as we learned above in the Mishnah in Rosh HaShanah, a person must be equally obligated in order to fulfill the obligation of another.

The mitzvah of shofar is considered a מצוה עשה שהזמן גרמא because it is specifically attached to Rosh HaShanah. We learn in Vayikra 23:24 that Rosh HaShanah is “זכרון תרועה,” a remembrance through the blowing, and in BaMidbar 29:1 we see that Rosh HaShanah is called “יום תרועה,” a day of blowing.

The Rambam rules in his Mishneh Torah Hilkhot Shofar, Sukkah, veLulav 2:2 as follows: !!כל מי שאינו חייב בדבר אינו מוציא את החייב ידי חובתו, לפיכך אשה או קטן שתקעו בשופר השומע מהן לא יצא.

Any person who is not obligated in a commandment cannot fulfill the obligation of an-other who is. Therefore if a woman or a child [who are not equally obligated as a man is in the mitzvah of shofar] blows the shofar, a man who hears their blowing will not have fulfilled his obligation. !The Shulhan Arukh in 589:1–2 rules like the Rambam. Therefore, we can clearly derive

that since women are פטורות and thus not obligated in the mitzvah of shofar as men are obligated, women cannot blow shofar on behalf of men. This means that women may not blow shofar for men on Rosh HaShanah, for their blowing would not fulfill the obligation of everyone.

Now that we know that women may not fulfill men’s obligation in the mitzvah of shofar , 8

we must ask whether women may blow shofar on Rosh HaShanah for those who share their same level of obligation: other women. !

III. Is a Woman Allowed to Blow Shofar for Other Women? ! The notion that a woman is not able to blow shofar to fulfill the חיוב, the obligation, of men does not necessarily preclude her from blowing shofar for women. The Rambam, as quoted above, was clearly responding to a reality in which women were blowing the shofar. But for whom? We learn in the Shulhan Arukh in Orah Hayyim 589: 6, “אעפ׳׳י שנשים פטורות יכולות לתקוע,” “Even though women are exempt [from the mitzvah of shofar] they are able to blow.” In this context we learn that we are discussing women blowing shofar for other women, and perhaps even for children.

The Mishnah Berurah explains that this is because “דמי שאינו מצוה ועושה נמי שכר יש לו,” “he who

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The obligation of shofar applies to hearing a minimum of thirty uninterrupted blasts, but the rabbis ruled that we 8

hear one hundred. All of the blows are blown by a man to ensure that any man who may be running late or who may be walking by will fulfill his minimum obligation at any point over the course of the one hundred blows.

is not commanded and does the mitzvah anyway also receives reward.” Thus a woman is not only able to blow shofar, but also receives some spiritual reward for doing so without being commanded. Additionally, the Mishnah Berurah takes this affirmation of a woman’s ability to blow shofar even further by rejecting those who might assume her blowing is a חלול יום טוב, a breaking of Yom Tov, and instead advocates that she can even carry shofar on Yom Tov without being obligated in the mitzvah. 9

We see now that the mitzvah of shofar and a woman’s involvement in it proves more nu-anced than it may have appeared on the surface. In accordance with the Mishnah Berurah, Rav Moshe Feinstein of twentieth-century North America writes in his Iggerot Moshe: !וכדנוהגין בכל מקום שמביאין הלולב להנשים מביהכ"נ לביתם אף במקום שליכא עירוב וכן מביאין השופר מביהכ"נ לנשים חולות

!לתקוע עבורן. Our practice in any case is to bring lulav to women from the beit knesset to their homes even in a place in which there is no eruv, and so too we bring the shofar from the beit knesset to women who are sick in order to blow shofar for them. 10

!This section from Rav Moshe recognizes a complexity in the halakhic status of women’s

role in both lulav and shofar: Women are not obligated in these mitzvot, yet we strongly encour-age and validate their practice of these mitzvot and, in our case, even value their fulfillment of hearing shofar over other concerns. We will continue to explore this question of status.

Additionally, the Ran and the Rosh explain that we need not be worried about 11 ,בל תוסיף 12

the prohibition to add to the commandments, in the context of women practicing מצות עשה שהזמן

,positive time-bound commandments. Rav Yosef Karo, in his commentary the Beit Yosef ,גרמאalso explains that Ashkenazic men are able to blow shofar for women who are ill or pregnant be-cause of נחת רוח, peace of mind. 13

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Since a woman is not obligated in the mitzvah of shofar, we might assume incorrectly that she therefore may not 9

carry the shofar on Yom Tov. The only reason a man would be allowed to carry the shofar on Yom Tov without it being considered מקצה is because of his obligation in hearing shofar. Therefore hypothetically since a woman is not obligated she may not be able to blow shofar at all on Yom Tov because she would otherwise cause חלול יום טוב without a צורך. The Mishnah Berurah rejects this logic, since a woman who is not commanded but still performs the commandment will nevertheless be rewarded.

10 שו׳׳ת אגרות משה אורח חיים חלק ב סימן צד.

11 הר׳׳ן על הרי׳׳ף ט: ד׳׳ה ולענין הלכה.

12 הרא׳׳ש אורח חיים פרק ד סי׳ ז. בשם רבינו תם.

13 בית יוסף על הטור אורח חיים סימן תקפט סעיף ו.

Thus, we learn that women can in fact blow shofar for other women on Rosh HaShanah. We must now explore whether or not women are able to make the blessing over blowing the sho-far.

IV. Is a Woman Allowed to Make the Blessing for the Shofar? !The question arises, even when women are permitted to blow shofar for themselves, how

can they reasonably say “וצונו,” “Who has commanded us,” in the blessing when they are not, in fact, commanded? The Shulhan Arukh holds that a woman should not say the blessing, writing, !

!יכולות לתקוע. וכן אחר שיצא כבר יכול לתקוע להוציאן אבל אין מברכות ולא יברכו להן. They [women] are able to blow [shofar]. So too a man, after he has fulfilled his obliga-tion already, is able to blow shofar to be motzei the women, but they [women] may not make the blessing and they [men] may not make the blessing for them. 14

!Here the Shulhan Arukh, whence Sephardic Jews derive their observance, does not allow

women to make the blessing because they are not commanded in a מצוה עשה שהזמן גרמא. As with other time-bound commandments, Sephardic poskim rule that a woman may not say the blessing for a mitzvah in which she is not obligated, while Ashkenazic poskim allow her to make the blessing. The Shulhan Arukh does, however, refer to the women’s hearing of the shofar as -to fulfill their obligation” thereby implying a curious partial level of obligatory fulfill“ ”,להוציאן“ment.

In addition, the Shulhan Arukh does not allow a man to make the blessing on a woman’s behalf. However, this is only in a case in which the man has already fulfilled the mitzvah, and therefore his saying the blessing would be entirely for the woman and not for the purpose of ful-filling his own obligation. A man may say the shofar blessing on behalf of the entire congrega-tion, including women, if he is either fulfilling the obligation for himself or if he is fulfilling the obligation for other men.

In contrast, Rav Moshe Isserles, the Rema and Ashkenazic halakhic decisor, writes in his companion to the Shulhan Arukh, !

!והמנהג שהנשים מברכות על מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא ע׳׳כ גם כאן תברכנה לעצמן The practice is that women make the blessings over time-bound commandments and so

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14 שלחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן תקפט סעיף ו.

too here [in the case of the shofar] they will make the blessing for themselves. 15

!This ruling establishes that Ashkenazic women may blow the shofar with a blessing for other women. It is important to note that although the Rema disagrees with the Shulhan Arukh on whether women may say the blessings for themselves, he still holds like the Shulhan Arukh in ruling that a man should only say the blessing on behalf of women if it is also to fulfill his own obligation or the obligation of other men present. The Arukh HaShulhan in 589:6 adds a similar explanation with fascinating reasoning, writing, !

!שיתבאר דגם הנשים מברכות...דמברכות על דעת רשות ולא על דעת חובה. It is clear that women also make the blessing [over shofar]...because they make the bless-ing with the knowledge that they are acting voluntarily and not with the knowledge of responding to an obligation. !

According to the Arukh HaShulhan women seem to have a level of involvement in the mitzvah of shofar that is not quite obligation, but also not entirely exemption. They are able to opt into the mitzvah with voluntary knowledge, דעת רשות, enough so that they may say the bless-ing. But they still may not blow shofar for men who are fully obligated. This reasoning places women’s relationship with shofar in a realm of its own and gives their blessings a special status that seems to necessitate non-obligatory intentionality. Consequently, for the Arukh HaShulhan it seems that women may be able to blow shofar and say the blessings as long as they keep their דעת .their voluntary involvement, in mind ,רשות At this point it is important to note that the status of women’s involvement in shofar may have additional halakhic implications. For example, if a woman who ordinarily attends shofar blowing becomes ill and is unable to hear the shofar on a given year, we must consider how her absence should be treated. The Maharil argues that today “אך שמכניסין את עצמן לחיוב”, they [women] 16

have officially accepted the obligation [of the mitzvah of shofar] upon themselves.” If we hold like this, then we may require the ill woman to perform התרת נדרים, the nullification of vows for her previously accepted observance of shofar blowing. Rav Ovadiah Yosef of twenty-first-cen17 -tury Israel in his Yalkut Yosef requires התרת נדרים in such a case only if her absence is more than a

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15 רמ׳׳א אורח חיים סימן תקפט סעיף ו.

16 ספר מהרי"ל (מנהגים) הלכות שופר א.

17 הש׳׳ך יורה דעה סימן רי׳׳ד סק׳׳ב: ׳דמחמת שאינו בריא, לעולם צריך התרה׳; גם חיי אדם כלל קלב סכ׳׳ח.

one-time occurrence. 18

A woman’s relationship with shofar has often been described as limited, since it falls into the category of אינו מחוייב, one who is not obligated. Despite this, the sources we have explored prove that a woman’s status in the mitzvah of shofar is quite nuanced. The poskim raise halakhic distinctions, such as פטורות אבל יכולות, דעת רשות, and נחת רוח, and some reject concerns of carrying on Yom Tov and fears of בל תוסיף. The Mishnah Berurah even argues that women are partially com-manded in shofar, “קצת מצוה יש להן בתקיעתן,” “There is some small command in their [women’s] blowing.” All of these inclusive halakhic measures both support the ability of women to blow 19

shofar for other women and validate women’s desire to be present for and involved in the mitz20 -vah of shofar. ! V. Do These Concerns Apply During the Month of Elul and the Rest of the Year? !

We must clarify that the rulings noted above are limited to Rosh HaShanah, as today the obligation to hear shofar is only in place then. It is worthwhile to note that in a time in which we have full possession of the land of Israel and observe Yovel, our discussion and rulings would also apply, as we learn in Mishnah Rosh HaShanah Chapter 3 Mishnah 5, “ָׁשֶוה ַהּיֹוֵבל ְלרֹאׁש ַהָּשּנָה”

”.Yovel is equal to Rosh HaShanah in blows and blessings“ ,ַלְּתִקיָעה ְוַלְּבָרכֹותThe question arises whether women may blow shofar during the month of Elul. Blowing

shofar during Elul is a minhag, a practice based on Pirkei deRebbe Eliezer, a first-century tan-naitic work from Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus. Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg in his twenti21 -eth-century halakhic treatise Tzitz Eliezer explains that this practice only applies בציבור, in the community, as the purpose of the blowing is to arouse communal teshuvah. Thus, a person is 22

not required to blow shofar during Elul ביחיד, when alone, but there is no prohibition in doing so if a personal blowing is desired. Little discussion exists surrounding women’s ability to blow shofar during Elul. Since women may blow shofar for women during Rosh HaShanah (for a mitzvah), קל וחומר, all the more so, they may also do so during Elul (for a minhag). This practice may be especially meaningful for a women’s tefillah group that meets during the month of Elul.

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18 ילקוט יוסף מועדים מי הם המחוייבים בתקיעת שופר ה.

19 משנה ברורה הלכות ראש השנה סי׳ו סק׳׳ו–ט.

Even a partial obligation does not allow women to fulfill the obligation of men who are fully obligated. It does 20

however underscore the importance of women’s observance of shofar.

21 פרקי דרבי אליעזר, מו. ורוקח סי' ר"ז ובטור וב"י וב"ח ופרישה.

22 שו"ת ציץ אליעזר חלק יב סימן מח.

The question remains as to whether a woman may blow shofar during Elul for a minyan in which both men and women are present. This topic has not yet been explored by halakhic au-thorities, and we will therefore raise potential considerations regarding its implementation and encourage continued halakhic discussion.

Unlike blowing shofar on Rosh HaShanah, blowing shofar during Elul is not a biblical obligation. The Rema and the Mishnah Berurah refer to shofar blowing during Elul as a min23 24 -hag. The Tzitz Eliezer distinguishes between “תקיעות דרשות לתקיעות דחיוב,” the “voluntary blows” of Elul and the “obligatory blows” of Rosh HaShanah. Based on the Tur and the Beit Yosef, 25 26 27

however, the Tzitz Eliezer refers to blowing the shofar during Elul as תקנת התקיעה, a rabbinic decree to blow. This language of תקנה, decree, indicates that the shofar blows during Elul may fall into a more stringent rabbinic category.

Additionally, we must consider the issues of precedent and כבוד הציבור , communal values 28

and standards. For instance, if a woman blows shofar during Elul, people might incorrectly as-sume that if a woman can blow shofar for the community during Elul, she can also blow for the whole community on Rosh HaShanah. Thus, understanding the implications of established precedent and its impact proves critical to our discussion. Similarly, we should also consider the community’s expectations and standards of acceptable practice. For instance, a woman blowing shofar during Elul in a community in which women do not take on leadership roles may clash with that community’s standards. Thus, the question of whether a woman may blow shofar dur-ing Elul for a minyan in which both men and women are present proves complex and should be further investigated by halakhic authorities. As indicated, women are permitted to blow shofar for women during Elul. !

VI. Conclusion ! In conclusion, women’s participation in the mitzvah of shofar proves poignant and mul-tifaceted. Although women may not perform the mitzvah of blowing shofar for men in order to

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23 רמ׳׳א הלכות ראש השנה תקפא: א.

24 משנה ברורה הלכות ראש השנה תקפא: א.

Ibid.25

26 טור אורח חיים סימן תקפא: א.

27 בית יוסף על הטור אורח חיים סימן תקפא סעיף א.

The category of כבוד הציבור applies to community standards, but its full scope is not the focus of this article. 28

fulfill their obligation on Rosh HaShanah, women are able to blow shofar for other women. Ac-cording to Sephardim, women may blow the shofar for other women but without a blessing. 29

However, according to Ashkenazim, women may blow the shofar for other women with a bless-ing. According to both Sephardim and Ashkenazim, a man may only blow the shofar with a blessing for a group of women if other men who need to fulfill their obligation for shofar are present or if the בעל תוקע, the man blowing shofar, himself has not yet fulfilled his obligation. Men who have already fulfilled their obligation who then return to their homes to blow shofar for women who are ill or unable to go to shul should blow without a blessing.

All of these rulings apply only on Rosh HaShanah, when the obligation and the category of מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, time-bound commandments, apply. During the month of Elul, women may blow shofar for other women. However, halakhic authorities should consider issues of תקנה, precedent, and כבוד הציבור, communal standards, when deciding whether women may blow shofar for both men and women during Elul.

Ideally, a woman should hear shofar blown on Rosh HaShanah in shul with the entire community. Because of the prohibition of פורש מן הציבור, dividing the community, we should a 30

priori encourage men and women to remain together for the main shul shofar blowing. On a day in which we are seen as בני מרון, sheep passing before God in judgment, we must stand as a unified community in order to strengthen each other that we may not be singled out for our transgres-sions. Therefore a separate concurrent women’s blowing during shul that would cause women 31

to leave the main minyan would not be encouraged, as it would diminish the spirit of the holiday. As we have illustrated, a private blowing by women for women that does not conflict with the main shul blowing or that serves women who otherwise would not be able to hear shofar is not only halakhically permissible, but also highly meaningful.

Relating to the cries of Sisera’s mother and the woman in labor, many women have a spiritual and emotional affinity for the mitzvah of shofar. The exploration of women’s involve-ment in blowing shofar serves as an opportunity to encourage greater participation and personal-ization in the haggim. The Yamim Noraim are a time of honesty, humility, and spiritual healing, and thus the shofar should be a means of drawing closer to our Source.

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29 ילקוט יוסף הלכות שופר ח–י.

30 ספר מהרי"ל (מנהגים) הלכות שופר א.

31 ספר מהרי"ל (מנהגים) הלכות שופר יד.

Put it into action!JOFA suggests a few practical steps that you can take to make women blowing shofar a more common sight in the Orthodox community.

Spread the skill! Gather friends and family of all ages for your own DIY shofar blowing workshop.

Engage your Gabbaim about organizing a later shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah for women and girls who missed the earlier one.

Arrange for women to blow shofar for home-bound women on Rosh HaShanah.

Organize a tefillah group to meet during Chodesh Elul where women can blow shofar after Shacharit.

Add shofar blowing as an optional skill for Bat/Bar Mitzvah students in your community.

A collaboration of JOFA and Yeshivat Maharat

For more information visit JOFA.org/ShofarGuide